UK Will Back Full Ban On Bee-Killing Pesticides

'Big news! Research led the environment secretary to overturn the government’s previous opposition, meaning a total EU ban is highly probable.

Environment secretary, Michael Grove, revealed last week that the UK will back a complete ban bee-harming pesticides (exempting greenhouses) across Europe.

The Guardian reported:

The decision reverses the government’s previous position and is justified by recent new evidence showing neonicotinoids have contaminated the whole landscape and cause damage to colonies of bees. It also follows the revelation that 75% of all flying insects have disappeared in Germany and probably much further afield, a discovery Gove said had shocked him.

Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticide but in 2013 the European Union banned their use on flowering crops, although the UK was among the nations opposing the ban. The European commission now wants a total ban on their use outside of greenhouses, with a vote expected in December, and the UK’s new position makes it very likely to pass.